1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to mouse pointers and more specifically to a method, computer program product, and data processing system for moving a pointer in a graphical user interface environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a Graphical User Interface (GUI) environment, such as Microsoft Windows®, the mouse pointer plays an important role in manipulating items in the GUI. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. The pointer can be moved across the screen using input devices such as a mouse. In Advanced Interactive Executive (AIX®) operating systems these input devices produce ticks which the driver converts to deltas in the X and Y axis. AIX is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. A tick is the amount of acceleration. The deltas will be larger when the input device is moved at a faster velocity in a specific amount of time, and will produce small deltas when the input device is moved at a slower velocity. The Windows system is responsible for reading the X, Y deltas the mouse driver produces. The Windows system may increase or decrease the deltas based on the user's mouse acceleration and threshold setting. As long as the mouse deltas are smaller than the mouse threshold setting, the Windows system will not change the deltas and will move the mouse pointer the same amount. If the delta reaches or exceeds the threshold, the delta is multiplied by the user's acceleration.